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PATIENTS at Kingston Hospital are feeling increasingly reassured by staff, according to the latest National Emergency Department survey.

The number of people who said they were ‘not reassured by staff if distressed’ has fallen by 19 per cent since the previous survey, conducted in 2014.

And there has been a 10 per cent fall in the amount of patients saying they felt doctors or nurses ‘didn’t fully listen’ to them.

“We are pleased with the results of our Emergency Department survey,” said Tracey Moore, Acting Chief Operating Officer at Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. “We are happy that our patients feel we have made improvements in a number of areas.”

The survey, conducted by healthcare charity Picker, received over 300 responses from visitors to Kingston’s Emergency Department (ED).

Kingston’s results were in-line with the average scores of all 75 Trusts surveyed. However, with only four per cent of ED patients saying they ‘felt threatened by other patients or visitors’, Kingston scored significantly above the average for other Trusts.

“We know there are areas that we still need to work on and are putting an action plan in place so that we can continue to make improvements,” Moore added.

“Our Emergency Department saw over 110,000 patients in 2016/17 – a figure that has been steadily increasing year on year.

“We have recognised the need for better emergency care facilities at the Trust, and are currently undertaking some transformation works. These will be completed before the end of the year, and we are confident that our patients experience in ED will be much improved.”